Marta Gomez, a volunteer at the Mercado El Sol, a food pantry opened by Second Harvest Food Bank, near downtown Santa Ana, restocks the shelves in between shoppers. The pantry serves low-income families in the surrounding neighborhood, (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

More than 37 percent of California households have so little cash saved that they couldn’t live at the poverty level for even three months if they lost a job or suffered another significant loss of income.

That’s the grim assessment of the 2017 Prosperity Now Scorecard. The report was compiled by Prosperity Now, a Washington, D.C.-based organization seeking to help people – particularly people of color and those with limited income – achieve financial security and prosperity.

No emergency fund

The scorecard also shows that 46 percent of households in the Golden State didn’t set aside any savings for emergencies over the past year, a higher percentage than the national rate of 43.7 percent.

It doesn’t help that 21.1 percent of California jobs are in low-wage occupations. The scorecard found that 21.4 percent of Californians experienced income volatility over the past year, a situation that most often results from irregular job schedules.

Households of color

It gets worse for households of color. They are nearly twice as likely to live below the poverty line as white households – 18.2 percent compared to 9.7 percent – and they are much less likely to own a home or other assets that could help boost their long-term financial stability.

Less than half of California’s households of color (43.9 percent) own homes, compared to 62.5 percent of white, non-Hispanic households. Moreover, 60.7 percent of Latino households and 56.7 percent of black households have virtually no savings and are considered “liquid asset poor,” compared to 28.2 percent of white households fitting that category.

“Beyond providing a cushion to get families through emergencies, increased savings and wealth allow families to invest in their futures and gain ground for future generations,” Prosperity Now President Andrea Levere said in a statement. “It’s clear that far too many people are stuck in economic limbo.”

High housing costs

Lars Perner, an assistant professor of clinical marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business, said California’s high housing costs have put many households on shaky financial ground.

“The cost of housing in California is exorbitant,” he said. “That’s a big part of the problem. People pay a disproportionate amount of their income toward housing.”

The report finds that nearly 20 million U.S. households (16.9 percent of the total) have zero or negative net worth. That means they owe more than they own.

Getting on track

The scorecard suggests several policies that could help get struggling households on track:

– Providing an income boost through policies like the federal and state earned income tax credit.

– Encouraging saving: Oregon is leading the way as a model of state support by authorizing $7.5 million in state funding for its Individual Development Account program in 2016. That is an asset building tool designed to enable low-income families to save towards a targeted amount, which is usually aimed at home ownership.

– Improving policies that increase the minimum wage: California has already made headway in this regard. Ten California cities and localities boosted their minimum wage on July 1. Pasadena, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Malibu and Santa Monica hiked their minimum wage for businesses with 26 or more employees, from $10.50 to $12 an hour. Companies with 25 or fewer workers will experience the same increase next year. Subsequent pay hikes will boost the minimum pay rate for businesses with 26 or more workers to $15 an hour by 2020, and smaller businesses will reach that level a year later.

– Creating increased access to home ownership: This refers to first-time homebuyer support at the federal and state levels, including programs that increase access to affordable mortgage products, incentivized matched savings products and property tax relief.

– Increasing retirement security: Retirement security is elusive for the 55 million workers without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Of those workers, 41 percent are black, Latino or Asian. Automatic-enrollment Individual Retirement Accounts help families shore up their savings and decrease the likelihood that income volatility and unexpected expenses will derail plans to invest in their future.

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.

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